That
by BttBFanFictionChallenge
Summary: Submission Number 5 of the BTTB Fan Fiction Challenge


**That**

Disclaimer: All characters are property of the Seven Network.

* * *

"That'll be $1.40 please." The bus driver said. With a smile I held out my tightly gripped hand, and gently released the coins into the tray.

"$1.40 exactly," I smiled politely. "Thanks Mr Hallam." I said whilst carefully taking my ticket and turning around to the seating area of the bus.

There it was; my seat. Every morning that seat was there, lonely and waiting for me to arrive. It looked so open and peaceful as the gorgeous early morning sun shone through the window and hazily rested on the felt. I carefully slipped my bag off my shoulder and sat on the seat, shuffling myself sideways towards the window. I clung to my heavy, black bag, pulling it close to me, and sat rigidly straight against the padding of the chair.

I was now into the 15th minute of my journey, when I just couldn't continue the hoax that I was indeed reading the soppy novel before me. I'd been looking at the words for the majority of the ride, as they begged to be read. But I couldn't read them, not with everything on my mind. With a sigh I closed the book and rested it on my lap. Closing my eyes, I thought of what it was, and what it should still be like now.

………….

"I mean, common, that top, them pants, so last year!" I giggled, talking loudly to my friend. I was in a great crowd. Great in size and great in value. I was in the 'it' crowd. Every teenage girl's biggest dream was to be amongst the people I was stood with, amongst the guys; amongst Billy. He was just… dreamy. I swear that whenever he flashed that cute Billy charm I'd buckle at the knees. His golden locks, which had a slight kink in them as they fell near his ear, reflected his handsome features. His rigid, strong bone structure emphasised his gorgeous blue eyes, and his chin, oh his chin, beautiful. I was in love, completely and utterly devoted to the boy called Billy. I couldn't help myself but wander over to him, and place my arm around his side.

"I can't wait till the prom." I whispered in his ear. He just smiled; his classic gorgeous smile. I held myself up for a moment, trying not to melt with his grin, and leant up close to his face. "I love you." I smiled, leaning in for a kiss. However, it wasn't long until my best friend interrupted, and broke us two apart.

"Sorry love birds," She began, "my friend and I have some very important shopping to do." She smiled, before pulling me out of the cafeteria. I turned around quickly before my exit, and managed to share a brief wave with my love.

………….

"Is she asleep?" I heard one of them giggle.

"I don't know, but I think we should still poke her, just for the hell of it." The other whispered loudly in between cackling. I say the other, when I mean the main one. I could tell just by her voice who she was, what girl she was. Even though they all looked extremely similar, she always stood out, and she made sure of it. She was by far the worst, she was 'the girl.' My eyes shot open, but I didn't make eye contact. Instead I pulled myself up and looked forward as I tried to ignore them.

"Awww, she's not even saying hi." She laughed. "That's a bit rude." I could feel her walking closer to my seat. I prayed for the seat behind me to be vacant, but of course there were no seats occupied within a seat radius of myself. Why would there be? Who'd want to even sit near me? "Boo." She whispered in my ear. "How's my Smartie?" She laughed, flicking my ear. "Oh, what do we have here…" She said, reaching over the back of my seat and grasping the novel. My hands flew down as I raced her for the book, but it was too late, she'd already got her slimey hands on it. "Awww, Smartie here reads love novels." She laughed, waving the book to her friends. "What will Jane Clarice do when John, her late husband, makes a surprise return? Will she break off the engagement with new fiancé Craig, or choose to stand by her new lover? Will a freak accident show who really loves her, and the others true motives behind their fake passion." She read allowed from the blurb, her voice dipping and rising as she attempted to read it with feeling. I spun around and glared at her.

"Having fun?" I asked as she flicked through the pages.

"Not as much fun as these are having!" She laughed, pointing at the page. "John grabbed my arms, and swung me over-" She began, before I quickly snatched the book away. I could feel myself illuminate as heat flooded to my cheeks. Everyone was looking at me, everyone was laughing. Even Mr Hallam the bus driver was having a good old chuckle at the front of the bus, and had a fair few glances through his mirror. I shoved my book into my bag angrily, zipped it up tightly, and then held it close to me as I stared out the window, praying for any familiar signs of my destination.

The girl's POV:

What a freak. She is a perfect example of a stereotype. Every detail about her fits into the same category. Her delicate round glasses that constantly roll down her small button nose. The stupid gold framework on her glasses entwines around them thick goggle lens', it's enough to make you heave. Her gruesomely dark hair is bundled up by a felt maroon scrunchie, which creates a frizzy bushy effect at the back. I mean, she used to look half decent when she was with me, but now… I cringe at the thought of actually going shopping with her. I do hope no one thinks I encouraged her to wear them… things. What did she do, get dressed in the dark? I mean common, who wears scrunchies nowadays anyway? Apart from my grandma, who can pull them off way better than her. I looked at her for a moment. 'Dang, she put the book away.' I realised. 'Aww, now there's nothing I can tease her with.' I thought, drumming my fingers on my seat. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. I spun around to face my friends at the back of the bus. I mouthed 'come here' and waved them over. I moved to the seat on the other side of the bus to the freak, and pulled Billy beside me as he walked close.

"Hey, Smartie." I smiled. "Oi, don't be rude." I said louder, leaning over and hitting her arm. She slowly turned her head; I could see the fear in her eyes. I smiled.

Smartie's POV:

Great, what does she want now? I dread to think, I just want to get off the bus. Why won't she just leave me alone? She's already made my life hell, why does she have to continue? I'm sure I didn't act like this, sure I was a cow, but I wasn't I_this/I_ bad. Not to her anyway. So why is she so determined to make my life a misery? I knew I shouldn't have got up this morning, I knew that leaving the house was a big mistake. I wish I hadn't bothered getting dressed.

"Oi!" She repeated as I stared blankly at her.

"What?" I answered, frustrated at her annoyance.

"Oh my God." She gasped. "We're finally blessed with an answer." I rolled my eyes and sighed, looking back to the front of the bus.

"So, Smartie. Nice scrunchie." She laughed, influencing her followers to join in giggling. I shot a look of disgust. How dare she talk to me about what I'm wearing?

"I could say the same about your skirt. I mean… that pink… it's… original." I smiled smugly. I watched as her eyes shifted around the bus, making sure no one was laughing.

"Well, you're glasses! They're like.. old women glasses!" She exclaimed, forcing a loud fake laugh afterwards. I just smiled again, looking her up and down.

"You're an expert on old women clothes, aren't you?" I commented. She sat there, stunned. I don't blame her really, she normally has such an easy task of humiliating and upsetting me, but now I was giving her a fight. I watched as her eyebrows waved and a look of concentration came across her face. "Too thick to think of a come back?" I asked. "Oh my God! Are they wrinkles?" I laughed, pointing towards her forehead. Her hand slapped to her skin as she panicked. I snorted to myself as I looked out my window, spotting the school. With a smile I picked up my bag and hooked it on my shoulder. I side stepped out of my seat and left the bus, feeling totally refreshed and happy with my revenge.

"Hang on Smartie!" She called, running off the bus. 'What does she want now?' I thought, continue walking. I could hear the echoing sound of her 3-inch heels power walking behind me, and her repetitive sighs as she grew closer. I managed to reach inside the gates before I felt her hand on my shoulder, swinging me around. "Did you think that was funny?" She demanded.

"Yea, actually." I smiled, turning around.

"You're not going anywhere Smartie." She said, pulling me to face her again. "I want to show you something." She said. I stood there, completely uninterested.

"What, another wrinkle?" I smirked. She forced a smile as she spun around, placing her hand on the back of Billy's neck. She pulled him into a long, passionate kiss. I stood rooted to the ground, my eyes filled with water. That was my Billy, with her! How could he do this to me, I thought he still loved me? She finally broke away, and they both looked at me, smiles on their faces.

"Oh, what's up Smartie? You didn't really think that he still liked you, did you?" She laughed. I cleared my throat and stood up straight.

"No…" I mumbled.

"Yes you did!" She exclaimed. "You poor, deluded freak. I mean, who'd like you? Apart from Geeky Gerald over there." She giggled, pointing towards Gerald Hashton who was behind me, turning red. It was now that I noticed the huge crowd gathering around us, witnessing myself being humiliated. I couldn't help but feel that they were probably enjoying it a bit, and I don't blame them. I deserve it. Most of them have faced this kind of thing before, except I was on the evil side. I was the bully. "Don't you think they'd make a cute couple though?" She asked everyone, her head tilted. "Aww, Geek and Freak." She laughed. I stared at her, getting angrier by the second. It was bad enough when she was humiliating me, but Gerald? He'd done nothing, and she had begun to pick on him.

"Shut up." I mumbled.

"What happened to you, Smartie? I mean you were fine up until.. oh, the prom." She said with a smirk. "Ahh, the prom. What a wonderful night." She smiled, wrapping her arm around Billy's waste. "We had fun, didn't we?" She laughed. I could feel myself burning with anger, reminiscing about that night.

………..

"Where's my prom king?" I called out, wandering outside. "Billy?" I gasped, turning around a corner. He suddenly broke away from her and fell backwards, revealing her evil smirk.

"Oh, Smartie, can you come back a bit later, we're kind of busy." She said, before pulling Billy back into a kiss. My eyes filled and I choked on my tears. I ran away crying, through the hall, through the corridors and into the toilet. I slipped down the wall, sobbing. I was heartbroken.

…………

"Awww, I've upset her now." She laughed. "At least you've got them romantic books to dream about." She smirked, turning around and beginning to walk off. "Oh, and one more thing Smartie, Billy never liked you, he just hung around with you because I asked him to. It was always me he wanted, he thought you were a bit of a freak really… but who can blame him. Look at you. That's who you are, you were never one of us, just someone we could copy off in Maths." That was it. That was when she had crossed the line. She'd gone too far this time, and my anger had reached a penetrating high point. She was getting it.

"Oi, spotty!" I yelled, storming to her. She stood still and spun around.

"What did you just call me?" She asked, her eyes widening.

"You heard me - spotty. Or, would you rather be called tart? Both are as fitting as the other." I smiled, still walking towards her.

"Don't you dare call me that! You… nerd."

"Ouch, that really hurt." I smiled, reaching her.

"Well… go play with your geeky friends. I'm sure Geeky Gerald is DYING to snog you… or whatever happens in those romantic books." She said, smartly. She may have been earning a few extra points in her crowd, but she was making things worse when it came to my temper.

"Prepare to feel the wrath of a woman scorned." I said through gritted teeth.

"Wha-" She began, but was interrupted when my hand made impact with her foundation covered cheek. She flew to the ground, caressing her face.

"Err, how much foundation?" I laughed, wiping my hand on my pant leg. She looked up at me as she lay on the floor.

"I can't believe you did that." She grumbled, getting up. "You're going to regret that Smartie." She said.

"No she's not!" I heard a voice squeak behind me. I turned around to find it belonged to Gerald. He smiled at me, and I returned the gesture. Then I heard something else, so I spun around to its direction, to find that they were clapping. An applause rolled out, steadily at first, but it grew and grew, finally resulting in a loud roar. I could here cheering and my name rang out. Not my horrible nickname, no, they all knew my name. They all knew me. Not for being horrible to them or wearing the right clothes, but for standing up for myself, for doing something I should have done a long time ago. I looked over at that girl, that girl that I used to aspire to.

"Get off the floor, Joy." I said, before walking off. I walked in amongst the crowd, the happy, cheerful crowd. Maybe they weren't the 'it' crowd, but they were the best. As I passed through, I received pats on the back, and words of encouragement and compliments. As I walked through I could hear her weak voice pathetically screaming my name.

"Smartie! Smartie! Get back here now!" She squeaked. I continued walking away, my head held high as I accepted the smiles and appreciation that my new friends were giving me.

"Wait until I tell Madge Wilkins this!" I giggled to myself.


End file.
